July 29, 2025
On July 28, Dr. Khalilah M. Harris became the new Executive Director of the Public Justice Center – a local and national leader in public interest law reform that uses systemic legal advocacy to pursue social justice, economic and race equity, and fundamental human rights for people who are struggling to provide for their basic needs.
Dr. Harris shared, “I’m delighted to be joining the team at the Public Justice Center to build on its 40-year history of movement lawyering and advocacy. The opportunity to expand and deepen the civil rights and anti-poverty work of PJC in collaboration with community partners is critical at this time of great uncertainty, and I’m ready for the challenge.”
Dr. Harris joins the PJC after over two decades in policy and justice. She recently served as Executive Vice President of Program Strategy at the Center for Policing Equity and as a campaign advisor for a mayoral campaign in New York City. She brings a unique perspective to her work from an extensive career fighting to expand access to opportunity through a racial equity lens. Over the course of her career, she has organized and been an advocate on a range of issues including access to quality K-12 public education, economic development, policing reform, women’s rights, Black maternal health and building an inclusive workforce. Native to Brooklyn, New York, and nurtured by Baltimore, Maryland, Khalilah is also a proud mother to three amazing children and daughter to Costa Rican and Jamaican immigrants – all of which grounds her work and shapes her global perspective.
Dr. Harris serves as a Commissioner on the inaugural Community Reinvestment and Reparations Commission for Baltimore City and was recently elected Vice Chair for grantmaking. She is also an appointee to Maryland’s Police Training and Standards Commission and president of the board of the Charm City Pearls Foundation, Inc. Dr. Harris previously served as the first Deputy Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African-Americans in the Obama administration and later served in the Biden administration as chief of staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Between the two administrations she served as managing director of the K-12 education policy team at the Center for American Progress. Khalilah has been a contributor on news networks such as Black News Channel, MSNBC, and The Real News. She has published research and opinion pieces and been sought after as a reputable and knowledgeable source in a variety of news outlets including the Washington Post, Education Week, The 74 Million, the Baltimore Sun, the Hill, and others.
Dr. Harris is a proud alumna of Morgan State University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. She obtained her law degree from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and later earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership and Organizational Development from the University of Pennsylvania. Khalilah is licensed to practice law in the state of Maryland and serves in support of a number of local and national civic organizations including as a life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Khalilah succeeds Jeniece Jones, MPA, JD, as the PJC’s Executive Director. To ensure a successful leadership transition, the Board of Directors, led by Colette Colclough, formed a search committee comprised of board and staff members and engaged executive search firm On-Ramps to conduct the search. We are grateful for the dedicated service of On-Ramps and the members of the committee: staff members Debra Gardner, Sabrina Harris, Matt Hill, David Reische, Samantha Gowing, and A. Vern Insalaco, and board members Colette Colclough, Dena Robinson, Tom Pacheco, Larry Simmons, Xander Perry, and Hannah Cole-Chu.
Board Chair Dena Robinson commented, “As a visionary and principled leader whose work has spanned community organizations to the federal government, Dr. Khalilah Harris is well poised to usher in the PJC’s next transformative era, during a time of socio-political upheaval. With the PJC’s phenomenal staff, Dr. Harris will deepen the PJC’s roots as an embodied movement organization and expand its reach in Baltimore and beyond. We could not be more thrilled to welcome Dr. Harris as our next Executive Director!”
